The Long Sleep (20 page)

I pressed the number I thought would work
best, and waited. Four rings. Then voicemail.

Damn voicemail. I tried to leave a message.
All I got was static. I could only hope it went through and would
be audible at the other end. I kept talking until the static ended
and the phone went dead. Exhausted, I collapsed again with my face
in the leaves.

They weren’t new leaves. They were left from
last year, under the new ones, and they smelled old and rotted. I
lay thinking it’s no wonder people die. They just give up. Is it
worth the struggle? I had always thought it must be. Now that I was
there, I wasn’t so sure.

I thought of the snows that would come and
bury me. No one would find me until spring, if even then. I’d be
nothing but bones. Would they know who I was? By the clothes,
maybe. The few rags that would still be there, and the DNA. We
learned in biology that you could get DNA from bone marrow.

I thought I heard voices. If he was coming
back, he had brought someone with him. Someone to help him finish
killing me.

More likely I was hallucinating. What was I
dying of? I tried to remember. Something I ate. Or drank.

The black curtains came again and wrapped
themselves around me.

Chapter
Eighteen

The curtains changed
into something sloppy on my face. I turned my head but it followed
me. I must have been asleep and didn’t know it.

I reached up my hand to push the sloppy thing
away, and felt fur. I opened my eyes.

“Pumpkin?
”

It couldn’t be. I had no idea where I was, or
why. Only that I was outdoors, on the ground, and Pumpkin was
licking my face.

I grabbed her to keep the dream from getting
away. At the top of the hill, I thought I heard voices. I heard Ben
say, “There she is! I knew they could do it.”

Another voice. “How’d she get down there?” It
sounded like Rick Falco. How could it be? It must have been part of
my hallucination.

I kept my hold on Pumpkin and again turned my
head. Sunlight blinded me, shining through bare branches. It was so
blinding, this time I felt sure it was real.

“I’ve got it,” said Rick’s voice. “You wait
here.”

“You might need help.” Ben always had a mind
of his own.

I heard leaves rustling. And Rick again. “No
sense us all landing in the crick.”

More leaves. Pumpkin lay down beside me. She
wasn’t going to abandon me. Ever.

Rick: “Damn, this is steep.”

And Ben: “How’re we going to get her up?”

“This is crazy.”

I closed my eyes and held tight to
Pumpkin.

* * *

When I opened them again, a pair of green
ones looked into mine. His lips moved.

The green eyes came closer until I couldn’t
see them anymore. He kissed my forehead.

Pulling back, Rick looked down at me and
said, “Oh boy.”

Ben, coming up behind him, also looked down.
“What the hell?”

“Evan,” I said in a hoarse croak.

“Evan did this?”

“I don’t know. Maybe not. I can’t
remember.”

“We’ll get some answers later.” Falco looked
up at what loomed above us. “What we need is a funicular
railroad.”

“Well,” said Ben, ever practical, “there
isn’t one.”

“I tried to pull myself up,” I told them.
“Pulling on bushes. I got a little way.” I still couldn’t believe
this was real. That they were actually here and talking to me.

“Should have brought a rope,” Falco said.

Ben said, “I could go home and get one.”

Falco took out his cell phone. “You know
who’s got ropes? The fire department.”

Several firemen answered his call. They
brought not only a rope, but also a ladder.

They kept asking how I got down there. I
started to tell them “Evan,” but I couldn’t pin it on him when I
wasn’t sure. I would be letting the real perpetrator get away.

I’d thought I was sure, but something
flickered in a corner of my mind. Each time I tried to catch it, it
darted away, then flickered again. Something had happened just
before I found myself in the car trunk.

They tied me to the ladder as though it were
a stretcher. Then several of them together pulled on it from above.
Others had to stay by the ladder and guide it because it kept
catching on rocks and bushes. Little Pumpkin did her best to keep
up. Even though she had four legs and better balance than the
people, it was a struggle for her. Petey came down and probably
wished he hadn’t. It was a struggle for him, too.

Finally we all reached the top. I counted
four fireman, as well as Rick and Ben. And two dogs. Not to mention
ropes and ladder. It was no wonder I couldn’t do it myself.

Ben petted the dogs. “Good guys. You found
her!”

The firemen reeled in their equipment and
drove away. Several cars had stopped with people wanting to find
out what was going on with a fire truck in the middle of
nowhere.

It wasn’t quite nowhere. There were houses
along Fremont but nothing right there in that meadow. No one would
have heard me if I’d yelled.

They put me in Falco’s back seat along with
the dogs. Now that we were aboveground, I could see where I was. A
couple of miles down Fremont from where the road came up from the
bridge.

Ben and Falco discussed taking me to a
doctor. Nobody asked me what I wanted, so I told them. “I’m
okay.
I’m all bashed up but I don’t think anything’s broken.
I just want to go home.”

They were doubtful. I had to promise we could
go later if anything seemed to be wrong.

For a while I had thought I would never see
home again. The rhododendron bushes. The front door with its
diamond-shaped window. The entryway that had the vase with Rhoda’s
autumn leaves. They were drying up but still there. It meant my
note about Evan was, too.

Rick carried me inside even though I was sure
I could walk. He took me into the living room, with the dogs
following.

Ben pointed to the sofa. “Just drop her
there,” and picked up the phone to call our parents.

Once I was on the sofa, Rick patted me down.
He was not in uniform. He wore his brown corduroy pants and leather
jacket.

“Sorry,” he said. “Not trying to get fresh.
You were on damp ground. I had to see how wet you are, if you need
a change of clothes, and who’s going to do it.”

“I can do it myself,” I told him weakly. “Is
this Friday?”

“Wednesday. The day before Thanksgiving. We
have a lot to be thankful for.” He looked over at Ben, whose back
was turned, then bent and gave me a quick kiss.

His second kiss in less than an hour.

“Why did I think it was Friday?” I said.

Our meeting. We’d had the newspaper meeting
early because of the holiday. “Isn’t there school today? Why isn’t
Ben in school?”

“He was,” Rick said. “He went to see if you
were there, after you didn’t come home all night. When he found you
weren’t, he came back here in case you showed up, and here’s where
I found him.”

“You mean my call got through?”

“Enough so I knew it was you. I couldn’t
figure out what you said, but at the beginning it gave the time. I
knew it had to be some kind of emergency. Unfortunately, and I hope
you’ll forgive me for this, I didn’t get the message until
morning.”

“I turn mine off at night, too,” I said.

“Last time I’m going to do that.”

“Don’t worry about it. You’re here. I was
just afraid my cell would die before I got to say anything.”

Ben hung up the phone. “Rhoda’s on her way.
She can’t stay long. She’ll call Dad.” He found a crocheted afghan,
which Rick put over me. He decided I wasn’t wet enough to need a
clothes change.

Then he sat on the floor beside me. “Tell us
what happened.”

“I wish I could,” I said.

That was not satisfactory. But I did know
more than they did.

I tried to think. “We had our meeting. For
the newspaper. I remember telling them about my research on Paula
Welbourne. About...”

The black curtain was still there, not
wrapped around my head, but hovering so I couldn’t see beyond
it.

“I talked about Evan. Did I say that? I found
out he was Paula’s stepbrother.”

“You told me that,” said Ben.

“Me, too,” said Rick.

“I told the newspaper staff, just because I
thought it was interesting. I wasn’t going to print it. Mr.
Geyer—he’s our faculty advisor—he thought I shouldn’t print
anything about her. He said it would upset her family. I told him
it was so long ago.”

I was getting mixed up between then and now.
It seemed long ago, but some of it was only yesterday. “He put his
hand on my back.”

“Geyer did?” asked Ben.

“He wanted to talk to me.”

Rick said, “That’s it?”

“It’s all I remember.”

“Don’t push it.”

I couldn’t help pushing a little. Or rather,
it nagged at me. “There was something about coffee. I remember
going downstairs . . .”

“Where do they serve coffee in that school?”
Ben asked.

“That’s what I said. Downstairs. He needed—he
said—he wanted to talk.”

“That’s a good one,” muttered Ben.

“He didn’t try anything. I mean, not like
you’re thinking. He talked about Paula. He wanted me—not to write—
I must have fallen asleep, or got knocked out. I woke up in the
trunk of a car.”

Falco stopped me. Out came the cell phone
again.

“Ernie,” he said to whoever answered. “Get
someone over to the high school immediately. If anybody’s cleaning
the teachers’ lounge, make them stop. Right now.” He looked at his
watch and said, “Probably too late.”

“They usually clean at night,” said Ben.

“Yep. We’re probably too late. But we can
try.”

They seemed to know what they were talking
about. My own head still felt hazy. “Am I missing something?”

Falco said into the phone, “I’ll explain
later. Just don’t let anybody go in the teachers’ lounge.”

He disconnected and said to me, “You’re
missing a block of time. You mentioned coffee and that’s all you
remember. You could have been drugged.”

“But why?”

The front door flew open. My mother rushed in
and grabbed me in a smothering hug.

Then she held me away, her fingers digging
into my shoulder. “Where were you? Why didn’t you call?”

“She couldn’t,” said Ben. “We’re getting the
full story now. Don’t jump to conclusions.”

“It can’t be the full story,” I said.
“Because of that gap.”

Falco had been taking notes. He could do it
almost inconspicuously.

I had trouble catching up to myself. “You
think I was drugged?”

“It’s starting to look that way. Let’s hope
they haven’t tossed out those coffee cups.”

I could see it more clearly now, the
coffeemaker next to the sink. And the cupboard with its row of
white institutional mugs.

“If you’re thinking Styrofoam,” I said, “they
don’t use it. It’s not biodegradable.”

“You mean they’re washable? Ceramic? Shi—” He
glanced at my mom and stopped. “I want to know what he gave
you.”

Then he stood up and paced the room. “So you
went to the teachers’ lounge.”

“I guess we must have, but I don’t actually
remember.”

“You and who else?”

“I don’t remember that either.”

“Geyer,” said Ben. Falco shushed him. It had
to come from my memory, not Ben’s guesswork.

But it seemed about right. I said, “It must
have been him. I told him I had to get home before dark.”

“What did he say?”

“He said he’d write a note explaining it was
his fault. I think he was trying to be funny.”

“Geyer? Funny?” said Ben.

Falco asked again. “No one else was
there?”

Rhoda looked ashen. She must have thought I’d
been raped. I couldn’t remember a thing, but somehow I didn’t think
that was Geyer’s intention.

I shook my head. “I don’t remember anyone
else. I’m sure I would have remembered.”

“What about the other kids from the
newspaper?”

“They all went home. It was late.”

Rhoda squeezed and flexed her hands and
stared at the floor.

“I think,” I said, “it must have had
something to do with Paula. With us writing about her. He didn’t
want me to. I said that, didn’t I? He was afraid it would dredge up
all their misery. Especially after I told him I knew Evan. I had no
intention of bringing Evan into it. I don’t think he trusted
me.”

“What did he say, exactly?” Falco asked.

“That’s what I don’t remember.”

That and a lot of other things.

“He didn’t ask about Evan. He was only
surprised when I said I had to be home. He thought it was like a
curfew.” I shook my head, trying to clear it. “First, when I first
woke up, I thought it was Evan. I assumed that because of the brake
line. He wouldn’t let me see his face and he had a gag in my
mouth.”

“Could you see the car when you got out of
it?” Falco asked.

“No, I had a blindfold. He took the gag out
when he got me on the ground. He didn’t take off the blindfold till
just before he threw me down that hill.”

“Threw
you?”

“He pushed me so hard it was like throwing. I
thought he didn’t ever want me found.” I explained my theory that
he hadn’t wanted it to look like murder.

Rhoda’s face had gone grayer still. “But it
was
murder.”

“Attempted,” said Falco. “You’re absolutely
sure it wasn’t your ex-boyfriend?”

I shuddered at the word “boyfriend.”

“Very sure. I didn’t see him at all.”

“You said you didn’t see anybody. You were
blindfolded.”

“Before I was blindfolded. I saw Mr. Geyer
but nobody else.”

“What kind of car does he drive?”

“I never saw the outside of it.” I tried to
remember if I had. But I wouldn’t have known what it was
anyway.